The First Battle
by Stwolfgang 'Peas' Ambrose
Summary: A fresh out of the academy Foot Soldier is assigned his first mission, but is he ready for it? DISCLAIMER: I don't own pvz, I own the plot. (This was a semi-quick One-Shot. This takes place before AFTOIL)
1. First Battle Jitters

The young teen looked nervously at the helmet he held, he wasn't prepared for this, he wasn't ready to face death in the jaws of a carnivorous plant or perhaps death to a spike in the head. Yes he had already died once before, but that experience was quick and painless. He looked around the small company of undead, a nervous look on his face for he knew what faced him on the other side of the graveyard wall. He looked at his shoulder as he felt something rest itself on it, it was the decaying hand of his commanding officer, Raptor, a General Supremo.

"Don't worry, you're in safe hands." Spoke the decaying general, reassurance in their voice.

"Th-Thanks..." The young Foot Soldier placed their helmet on their head and un-holstered their Z1-Assault Blaster. He checked the ammo pouches he was wearing, he had four extra clips plus the one already loaded into his weapon. _'This isn't going to last me the whole battle'_ , he thought to himself. He held the weapon tightly and had one last look around the company. Their Engineer support was provided by a Mechanic named Phil. Their suppressive firepower would come from the Marrick twins, Arnold and Pellopese, a Hockey-Star and All-Star respectively. They would be healed by a Chemist named Charles while Raptor and himself would keep the Peashooter's off the roofs and provide support from above using their blasters. A siren went off and the gates to the graveyard opened, for a few seconds nothing happened and Phil launched his Zombot drone. Once the drone was over the walls and flying towards the garden, the company moved out, except for the young teen who stared out of the gate and right at a Chomper who seemed to be taunting him. He watched as it spat a strange, purple like substance at him. As he was about to be hit, Charles tackled him out of the way.

"What do you think you're doing, Zach?" Asked the Chemist angrily. "You have no idea how sticky a Chomper's saliva is." Charles got off of the young Foot Soldier and ducked just as a Pea flew over his head. The Chemist growled lightly and ran to catch up with Pellopese, the All-Star had been shot a few times and needed to be healed. Zach got up, the weight of the rocket launcher on his back weighing him down. Once he was back on his feet, Zach ran for the nearest house and hit the Rocket Jump button on his launcher and it propelled him onto the roof. The young Foot Soldier stumbled when he landed and fell onto his face. He winced when something slammed into his ribs from the side so he rolled onto the other side of the roof and looked at where he had been hit. A large part of his uniform was stained by a direct hit from a pea. The impact point stung and he struggled to get onto his feet. Once he was back on his feet, Zach peeked over the crest of the roof and took stock of his situation. In the distance he watched the Marrick twins easily take care of a Fire Chomper and a Toxic Peashooter while Charles helped Phil dispatch of a Commando Peashooter and a Bandit Cactus. Zach ducked just as a Pea flew over his head and he scanned for the Peashooter that was shooting at him. After a few seconds he noticed a Peashooter on a roof opposite his, the Peashooter seemed to be as inexperienced as he was. Zach pulled his Assault Blaster up to his shoulder and aimed straight at the Peashooter. He went to pull the trigger, but something seemed to stop him from doing it. He nearly dropped his blaster when the sound of someone yelling out startled him.

"PULL THE TRIGGER TO SHOOT YOU STUPID BOY!" The yelling came from above. Zach looked up to find a Command Airship flying overhead, it was dropping different supplies for his comrades. Zach looked back at where the Peashooter was, the plant was gone. Zach frowned before he jumped off the roof and searched out the other members of his team.

Zach gripped his blaster tightly, the streets were somewhat quiet, an occasional shout and sound of something being vanquished echoed through the decaying streets. Zach walked slowly towards a row of houses, windows seemed to be smashed. Just as he got to the gate, the sound of the ground being split apart sounded out from behind him. The young Foot Soldier turned in horror and watched as the crack in the pavement got closer and closer. Before it reached him, a sonic grenade hit the ground and a Chomper burst out of the ground. Zach pulled the trigger in fright, the yellow pellets taking out the Chomper which yelped in pain. Zach dropped the blaster in shock and curled up into a ball. After a few seconds, someone placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him.

"Hey, newbie, you alive?" Zach uncurled and looked up at the mechanic, Phil. "You're lucky I showed up or that Chomper would have had you." Zach was grateful for the Mechanics help. He got to his feet, picked up his Blaster and set off with the Mechanic to find Charles, who had left Phil to try and find the Marrick twins. After a few minutes of searching, Zach and Phil found Charles healing the Marrick Twins, as well as Raptor, the General Supremo had a scowl on his face.

"Good to see you're alive, Zach." Spoke Raptor quickly. "Charles. Heal Zach, and then I will take him with me and we will hit the garden straight on." Zach shook his head in slight disbelief, he did not want to attack the garden, even with Raptor's help.

"I-I'm not ready to do this..." Zach spluttered out.

"Look, Zach. You're young and inexperienced, I get that. But you need to grow a pair, alright? This is a war-zone and if you want to get through it, you have to follow my orders, capice?" Zach nodded at Raptor and let Charles heal his wound. After a while, the group of six moved out and prepared to charge the garden. Zach looked at his Blaster, there was only around eight shots left in his current clip, he would have to reload soon.

"Alright, Marrick Twins. You suppress the plants on the garden, Zach, Charles and myself will get onto that garden and force off any defenders while Phil, you'll use your drone to dislodge any snipers at the back. Alright, let's go." When Raptor finished speaking, he ran out from behind their cover and used his modified rocket launcher to rocket leap onto the garden. Charles used his warp ability to get onto the garden while the Twins fired at the garden to force the plant defenders to seek cover. Phil used his Zombot Drone to attack the few Cacti in the back. Zach took a deep breath and ran forward. He got onto the garden without any trouble, but as soon as he was on the garden, he had entered a hellish display of fighting. Peas, Spikes, Pellets and goop flew all over the place. He pulled the trigger and shot out at anything he could see, he succeeded in hitting the same wall with the last eight shots in his Assault Blaster's clip. He didn't notice he was out of ammo until a Chomper started to run at him and he pulled the trigger, only to hear a terrifying 'click' that told him he needed to reload. Just as the Chomper was about to engulf Zach in it's gaping maw, Zach bent over and hit the buttons on his rocket launcher in a flurry. To his surprise, a quick jingle played and a rocket flew out of the rocket launcher and took out the Chomper. Zach stood still in shock before shacking his head and reloading his weapon.

Once reloaded, Zach started taking time to aim before shooting as the plants seemed to be more focused on Raptor, Charles and Phil's drone. Zach cringed slightly as he took out a Sunflower and a Cactus before having to reload once again. As he reached into his ammo pouch, he winced as he had been hit from behind by a Pea. He finished reloading and turned to face the plant behind him. Zach had a scowl on his face as he pulled the trigger. The Peashooter jumped to the side and shot Zach again, the Foot Soldier winced again. The Peashooter's expression changed from anger to shock and worry, their root was stuck in a crack in the pavement they stood on. Zach smirked as he pulled the triger once again. The Peashooter growled as they were brought close to death, they lay on their back and watched as Zach walked up to them. Zach reloaded his weapon as he slowly walked towards the injured plant, _'Do it. They're the only one left. Get it over and done with'_ , he thought to himself. He grabbed the plant and held his blaster to their head. The Peashooter looked down at the ground and closed their eyes as they waited for the shots that never came. Zach released the plant, he couldn't do it.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Asked the bloodied plant.

"Go...before I change my mind." Zach pointed his Blaster at a wall and shot in frustration. The Peashooter turned and hypered off in a seemingly random direction. Zach looked up to find Raptor with a scowl on his face.

"You let the enemy go." The General Supremo let out angrily.

"I...I couldn't do it..." Replied Zach sadly.

"I'll let it slide this time, that plant was young, he won't last out there." Raptor's reply was stone cold. After that, Raptor helped Zach up and gave him the rest of the week off, Zach was to spend the weeks at the academy to try and beat the sympathy out of him.


	2. The Aftermath

The Peashooter stumbled through the collapsing city streets, his blood oozing onto the cracked pavement from the many cuts and lacerations that had torn apart most of his stem, leaves and much of his head. His heart beat slowly and heavily in his chest, his breathing ragged and heavy, his sight seemed to be swimming in red. _'Why didn't he kill me? I was in his grasps...all he had to do was pull the trigger, finish me then and there?'_ The same thought drifted through his mind, it seemed to be the only thing that kept him from collapsing onto the side walk in pain and despair. But as time went by, the Peashooter started to feel death creeping up onto him, or was it death? It sounded like a massive group was stalking him.

* * *

The General Supremo watched the bloody Peashooter stumbling incoherently down the street, he actually felt kinda bad for the young plant, a feeling he quickly quelled.

"Should I end him now? I'll just warp in there, pull the trigger, bang, one less Peashooter to deal with." Raptor turned to find Charles, the Chemist, holding his blaster enthusiastically.

"Mmm...I think I'll just send in some browncoats to get rid of him. We've got bigger plants to deal with." Charles frowned when Raptor said that he couldn't go ahead and kill, the plant.

"Fine. Where did that Giga-Torchwood go, anyway? I'm sure we couldn't have lost him that easily." Raptor clasped Charles on the shoulder and chuckled at the Chemists statement.

"Come on, send about fifty of the Browncoats at the Peashooter, just to make sure he dies."

* * *

The Peashooter stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a large number of footsteps approaching him from behind. He turned to find around fifty browncoats shuffling forward, a couple of them wearing cones and buckets for protection. _'I'm, so, screwed.'_ This thought set off alarm bells in his mind, he wasn't going to get out of this, not in the state he was in. Instead of giving up straight away, a new thought began to form in his head. _'My parents died protecting me, my brother died to save me. I'm not letting them die in vain.'_ With that, the Peashooter let out a war-cry and ran at the browncoats, his fist raised, a sudden surge of strength and adrenaline boosted him, numbing his body so that he could barely feel pain.

* * *

Zach watched his world spin before his very eyes, the training simulation had been, arguably, the hardest he had even undertaken.

"GET UP, MAGGOT! YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO SLACK ON MY WATCH! GO! GO! GO!" Zach groaned as he struggled to get up and readjust the simulation gear he wore. "ALRIGHT! Now then. I'll show you exactly where to shoot when you come up against certain plants." Zach rolled his eyes at the All-Star, he hated these lectures.

"WHAT WAS THAT?! YOU THINK YOU'RE SMARTER THAN ME, MAGGOT?! GET DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY!" Zach groaned and started doing the push-ups. After completing them, he stood and found himself staring straight into the eyes of a plant, an actual, living plant, a look of anger, terror and pain in their large, brown eyes.

"What the-" Zach was cut off before he could finish his sentence."

"ALRIGHT MAGGOT! TIME TO LEARN HOW TO KILL THE ENEMY!" Zach gulped as he watched the Commando Peashooter be dragged back away from him, the plant yelped in pain, the chain around their neck tightened quickly. The All-Star instructor gave the plant a heavy backhand slap across the face, blood flew from the plants circular mouth.

"You'll pay for that." The All-Star struck the plant again, their head hung limp as they tried to recover from the blow.

"WHAT WAS THAT?! YOU THINK YOU CAN HARM ME?! I'd like to see you try." The plant spat some blood onto the floor at the All-Stars feet.

"Unchain me then...let me beat the living shit out of you. You're nothing but a festering sack of-" 'CRACK', the All-Star had heard enough, he tackled the plant into the wall, they were only able to groan quietly. The All-Star instructor stood back and let the plant fall to the ground, limp, motionless, seemingly unconscious. Just for good measure, the All-Star kicked the plant in their head, they were definitely unconscious.

"And that, is one of dealing with them, beat them to a bloody pulp. They're pretty weak when it comes to a fist fight. Beware Chompers though, they'll swallow you in one go if they get the chance." Zach didn't bother with a smart alec reply, he didn't want to be on the receiving end of his instructors anger. But something began to form in Zach's mind, _'That poor plant.'_ Zach shook his head as he tried to vanquish the thought, if they plant had the opportunity, it would have attacked him, ripped him to shreds with its Gatling ability, right? But somewhere deep inside, he knew there was something wrong about all of this.

* * *

"Molist, stop interfering with my line of work." The giant Fire Pea let out angrily, the golden helmet adorned Chomper was beginning to tick her off slightly.

"Come on, Upint. He's still too young to do this. Let me save him, give him a future somewhere that doesn't involving killing the innocent." Upint growled lightly, she wanted this Foot Soldier to go far, but Molist kept putting sympathy in his head. Upint snorted when she thought about it, sympathy was so fickle.

"Fine then Molist, I don't have the time to win over this one. You can have him." Upint left with a flash, leaving the gold helmet wearing Chomper to look over his spoils.

* * *

Zach began to feel his mind clear, his vision seemed to no longer be fogged over while he felt confident that what he was going to do was the right thing. The inexperienced Foot Soldier bent over, hit the button on his rocket launcher, which played a little chime, and a ZPG flew from it as the chime came to an end, the All-Star didn't stand a chance. When the rocket impacted the All-Star, they collapsed, a large hole blown into their chest. Zach gasped at what he had just caused, shock clouded his mind as he rushed over to the weakened plant, to his great surprise, they were still conscious, even if barely. The bruised and bloodied Commando Peashooter coughed when Zach helped them to their roots.

"Hey, kid, I'm fine." They coughed again and collapsed. Zach picked up the plant and hoisted them over his shoulder. "Kid, what are you doing? We're enemies...aren't we?" Zach smirked and walked out of the training facility with the injured plant over his shoulder.

"My only enemy is the one who murders mercilessly." Zach's reply made the plant laugh slightly.

"I like ya, kid. What's your name? Just so I can save you if any of my comrades get the wrong idea about you." Zach thought about his answer, he didn't want to go by Zach anymore, he thought he had tainted his name.

"My name, is Karranoth." The Commando Peashooter seemed to gasp.

"You mean Karranoth, as in the medieval hero?" Zach nodded and the Commando Pea proceeded to ask him many questions, all of which Zach, no, Karranoth answered honestly.

* * *

The Peashooter stumbled back as a heavy handed fist knocked him against the cracked wall of an abandoned tower. _'No, not like this...I failed them.'_ The feeling of dread and failure crawled all over the beaten plant, the disappointed looks of his deceased family members flooded his mind. He yelled out involuntarily as a browncoat ripped apart part of his stem, his own blood was pooling around where he lay. The Peashooter whimpered as tears formed in his eyes, he never felt more useless as his vision darkened further and further.


End file.
